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Heads up— Beginning January 25th, AMBC’s meetings will happen at Sweet P’s Barbeque & Soul House. They’re keeping the place open just for us, so we’ll have full run of the room. There’s plenty of parking across the street on Jackson Ave. See you at 7 on 1/25!

Every New Year’s Day the Big South Fork Bike Club invites all mountain bikers to ride the Big South Fork at an annual event called “The Mail Run”. Bikers meet at the Bandy Creek Visitor Center at 9 am (ET), January 1st and then hit the trails. “The ride is traditionally called the Mail Run because ‘neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of the night’ keep us from getting out there on the first of the year,” said Joe Cross, President of the Big South Fork Bike Club. The Mail Run consists of a choice of rides varying anywhere from 8 to 35 miles so bikers can pick the group ride of a length they are most comfortable with.

This January 1st will be a special ride since it will take place on the first day of the National Park Service’s Centennial year. In order to help celebrate the National Park Service’s one hundred years, the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area has partnered with the International Mountain Biking Association, Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, and the Big South Fork Bike Club to highlight one hundred miles of outstanding mountain biking in the park during 2016. The 100 miles of highlighted trails include West Bandy-Collier Ridge Route, Duncan Hollow-Grand Gap Loop, IMBA/Epic Route, Kentucky Bike Trail, Chestnut Ridge-John Muir Trail Route, and Hatfield Ridge-Fork Ridge Route. The International Mountain Biking Association now has a special webpage that helps bikers plan their routes on those trails.

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area has almost 300 miles of trails that allow mountain biking and in 2012 was the first national park in the nation to receive the International Mountain Biking Association’s (IMBA) elite Epic Ride designation. “Big South Fork’s extensive mountain biking trails along with the IMBA Epic designation, is likely to draw numerous new users to this part of the country,” said Tom Sauret, IMBA Regional Director for the Southeastern United States.

Fall Events:

Riversports Pint Night – Thanks to Riversports Outfitters for including us in another great season of pint nights! We appreciate the support.

Bike Raffle – HUGE congrats to Corey Korpela for winning the Santa Cruz/Juliana bike raffle! Enjoy your sweet new ride. And THANKS to Harper’s for their awesome support and sponsorship.

Fall Fest – Mud and awesomeness!! Fantastic event once again. Many, many thanks to Brian and Mary Beth for letting us stomp all over their yard and for being such gracious hosts!

Urban Wilderness Work Day – Thanks to the 41 volunteers who came out to help! We got lots of work done in the woods and cleaned up our adopted street. And thanks to Cycology for lunch. Great work, great community, once again.

New Business:

SORBA Meeting Recap

We talked a little about the SORBA meeting last month. IMBA is making some changes and restructuring that will affect us at the club level. They are implementing a new dues structure. The dues will be going up, but we will see more of that money staying here with us. This is a good thing.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Get your tree this year from Andrew at Smokey Mountain Vintage Lumber! Ask them to donate 10% of your tree purchase to AMBC. They’ll do it!

Blue Ridge Mountain Sports Donation

Thanks to this great regional retailer for a donation from their sticker fund. $1168 to AMBC!

Clay Guerry with TVA spoke about Loyston Point, Knoxville area’s newest mountain biking destination. Everyone involved is thrilled with the response to this new trail system, but they ask that we let the new trail breathe and not ride it until it is ready. Thanks!

Upcoming:

December 13 – AMBC Holiday Party at Suttree’s Tavern! – Sunday at 6:00 pm, come out and join us for some holiday cheer! Eat, drink and be merry! Knock out some shopping at the merch table. We’ll see you there!

January 1 – Mail Run – Big South Fork; Start 2016 out right and join us for a New Year’s Day ride at BSF! “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” No excuse to miss this!

REMINDER

The Wood Property trails are under construction and NOT open to AMBC members or the public. Please DO NOT ride there until the trail system is officially open. We hope to celebrate this great addition to the Urban Wilderness with the Legacy Parks Foundation in the Spring of 2016!

Recent Events:

Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day

This was a great event! There 60 people out for the event held at the Wood property beginner loop. We love to see such enthusiasm for mountain biking from the parents and kids. We can’t wait to get more involved in this event next year!

Oak Ridge Trail Day

Brad Spears shared the back story of the Oak Ridge trail project and the success of the recent work day. There were 53 people out to build the 1.3 mile “Sink Hole Trail” in the North Boundary area! This is significant in that it could open the door to over 22,000 acres of land owned by the Department of Energy in Oak Ridge. Great job on this to everyone who helped and thanks to the sponsors: RSI, UCOR, Knoxville Bicycle Company, and Yee Haw Brewing.

12 Hour HOT Race

Thanks to John Baker & Co. for another fantastic 12 Hour HOT Race! It never disappoints. And many thanks to all the awesome volunteers!

Open Streets

What a fun day for our city! Were you there?! Want to do it again?? Write your local government representatives and tell them!

Coming Attractions:

River Sports Pint Night!

This month’s Pint Night at Riversports Outfitters is benefitting the AMBC! Tomorrow night, 6-9 pm. The first 200 people get a custom pint glass filled with a delicious beer and one refill for a mere $5 donation to the club! Yakima is the sponsor and is sure to have cool stuff for raffle. Food truck too! Ride down and join us!

AMBC Fall Fest

It’s here!! Saturday, November 7 at Helix Lane! Here’s the main things to know:

It’s awesome. Done.

Park and Ride! There is very limited parking onsite so PLEASE park at Anderson School and ride in.

Spend the night! There will be onsite camping, which is fun and SAFE! Feel free to set up your campsite Friday night, or drive in Saturday and set up and then park offsite.

One More Thing!

Congress is considering three amendments to the transportation bill that would significantly reduce federal bike funding by cutting two critical programs, the Recreational Trails Program and the Transportation Alternatives Program. RTP directly impacts our quality of riding in Knoxville and is responsible for more than 10 Miles in our Urban Wilderness. The most recent project is the 6 miles that Legacy Parks is currently building at the Wood Property. Follow the People for Bikes initiatives and let our representatives know the importance of these programs. Click here for more information!

Entries are only $10 each, and you can enter as many times as you like. All proceeds go to AMBC, to further the development and improvement of mountain bike trails in our area. The drawing will happen on November 7th at 8pm at the AMBC Fall Festival, but you don’t need to be present to win. The bike will be available for local pickup in Knoxville, or the winner may arrange shipping at his or her expense.